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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Scottish League

Life In Black & White

02 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by laurencereade in E

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Albion Rovers, Borough Briggs, Elgin City, Football, groundhopping, Kane Hester, League 2, Scotland, Scottish League, SPFL

Saturday 14th August 2021 ko 15:00

Scottish League 2

ELGIN CITY 3 (Hester 17 22 46)

ALBION ROVERS 0

Att 488 at Borough Briggs

Entry (Main Stand) £14

Programme- Online

Teamsheet- Free with raffle ticket

Badge £3

The car was packed to the gunnels ready for the long drive south. I stopped for a final coffee as we were about to leave Inverness, and roughly half the Fort William FC side followed me in. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I could have so easily been watching them play. With the pitch at Claggan Park in such a state that it can’t be used this season Fort are playing all their home games away and were en route to a home defeat at Forres Mechanics. Robyn and I ended up following them along the A96 but carried on to Elgin, a destination that for me did have some significance. Continue reading →

Vanilla

20 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by laurencereade in P

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Berwick Rangers, Firhill, Football, groundhopping, Partick Thistle, Scotland, Scottish League

Saturday 30th July 2011 ko 15.00

Scottish League Cup 1st Round

PARTICK THISTLE 1 (Cainey 28)

Paton sent off 47 (DOGSO)

Balatoni sent off 78 (DOGSO)

BERWICK RANGERS 3 (Gray 34 Noble 73 P Currie 78p)

Att 1,255

Entry £10

Programme £1.50

I’m sure there’s little truth in the story about a traveller taking a taxi from Glasgow airport and the cabbie asking whether his passenger was Celtic or Rangers. The response of “Well I like Partick actually” elicited the response “Ah you like your football vanilla then?” While the tale does Partick Thistle a massive disservice there is the kernel of an alternative truth in it. Continue reading →

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Somerset

18 Thursday Jun 2020

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Ally McLeod, Archibald Leitch, Ayr United, Beresford Park, Brechin City, Neil McGowan, Scotland, Scottish League, SPFL

With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 23rd February 2008 ko 15.00

Scottish League Division Two

AYR UNITED 0 

Lowing sent off 45 (dangerous play)

Williams missed penalty 57

BRECHIN CITY 3 (Weaver 11og Paton 19 N Walker 90)

Att 1,103

Entry (seat in main stand) £14

Programme £1.50

On occasion I get asked which Scottish League grounds I’d recommend, and my answer is always the same two clubs, Greenock Morton, and Ayr United. That’s no disrespect to any other clubs and their stadia, and I’d recommend a trip round the Leitch stand at Ibrox too, but I’d argue that if you love traditional Scottish football grounds, then you really do need to visit Cappielow and Somerset Park. This is all about the latter. Continue reading →

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Taking Stock

14 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Annan Athletic, Central Park, Cowdenbeath, groundhopping, Hannan, League 2, Scotland, Scottish League, SPFL

With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 2nd August 2008 ko 14.20

Scottish League Division 3

COWDENBEATH 1 (McQuade 16)

ANNAN ATHLETIC 4 (Jack 30p 48 Archibald 58 Johnstone 90)

Att 596

Entry £10

Programme £1.50

There are of course no lack of towns that with the greatest of respect to their residents, that you’d never visit for tourism but would for football.  That said I do know one couple where the wife made the rather rash decision to let hubby book their summer holiday. They were due to visit Sunderland this June had it not been for Coronavirus. Cue the complaints from the Sunderland tourist board….. Continue reading →

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Fine Margins

31 Sunday May 2015

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Blair Park, C Robertson, Hurlford United, Junior Cup, Premier Division, Scotland, Scottish Junior, Scottish League, Shotts Bon Accord, Superleague Premier Division, West of Scotland Superleague, West Region

Saturday 30th May 2015 ko 14.00

Scottish Junior FA, West Region Superleague Premier Division

HURLFORD UNTED 2 (C Robertson 59 Donnelly 77)

SHOTTS BON ACCORD 1 (McCrum 90)

Att 144

Entry £5

Programme (reissue from 6/12/14) £1 (original price £1.50)

 In Scotland below the professional ranks there’s two visions of how non-league could look. On one hand there’s the new Scottish pyramid with the Lowland and Highland league champions playing off for the right to play off against the Scottish League’s bottom side for the final place in the league. On the other there’s the Juniors, not aged-based, more an alternative FA, with the North, East and West Regions ploughing their separate furrows, save for the Junior Cup. Continue reading →

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The Castle

22 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by laurencereade in T

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Challenge Cup, Dean Fyfe, East of Scotland League, east stirlingshire, Juniors, Lowland League, Meadow Park, Playoff, Preliminary Road, Ramsden's Cup, Scotland, Scottish League, South of Scotland League, Spartans, Threave Rovers

Saturday 20th July 2013 ko 15.00

Scottish Challenge Cup Preliminary Round 2nd Leg

THREAVE ROVERS 1 (Fyfe 74)

THE SPARTANS 0

The Spartans won 4-3 on aggregate

Att 258

Entry £4

Programme £1

There’s signs of life in the lower reaches of the Scottish game for this season. There’s never been a functioning pyramid below Division 3, in the north if a club wins the Highland League there’s no way up, and in the south there’s the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, the former far stronger. And parallel to it all are the Juniors, ploughing their own furrow, a few only meeting their nominally senior compatriots in the Scottish Cup. The clubs at the bottom of Division 3 simply have carried on being uncompetitive knowing that there’s no automatic means of their removal.

For this season though, Continue reading →

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Red Lichties

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

36-0, Arbroath, battle of arbroath, Bon Accord, closest ground to sea, Forfar Athletic, Gayfield Park, Graham Bayne, Iain Campbell, Lee Sibanda, Red Lichtie, Scottish League, Smokie, soccer

Saturday 26th January 2013 k 15.00

Scottish League Division 2

ARBROATH 3 (Sibanda 8 Bayne 17 56)

FORFAR ATHLETIC 1 (Campbell 72p) Robertson sent off (dangerous play) 79

Att 843

Entry £12

Programme £2

Badge £2

Teamsheet FREE

Steak Pie £2

Sometimes its wonderful how coincidence works to push you towards visiting somewhere new. I’d passed through the Angus town of Arbroath on my way through towards a holiday in St Cyrus, just north of Montrose about a decade ago. I’d spotted the ground, and mentally filed it as one to visit. I’d made no effort to visit, until I wrote about Irvine Meadow, on the west coast, and one of my readers, Kate suggested I go. Then fellow hopper Lee, suggested pairing it up with Aberdeen, and then it was simply a question of the planning.

We were joined by “Fast” Eddie McGeown, the avuncular retired headmaster whose blog is well worth a read.  www.footballhopper.com  Eddie always provides a laconic, educated view of the hobby, with his liking for a crossword, Sudoku, and a glass of a red to wash it all down with. The fourth seat in the car was taken by another educationalist, but in a completely different continent. Peter Grant is an Aussie who teaches English in Osaka, and his tales of the “Gaijin” who follows Cerezo Osaka kept us amused on the 6 hour journey through the last of the snow.

The small fishing town has a rich and varied history despite its size. It was the location of the Battle of Arbroath in 1446. A series of disagreements between the Chief Justiciary of Arbroath, Alexander Lindsay, third Earl of Crawford, and Bishop James Kennedy of St Andrews resulted in Lindsay sacking the bishop’s lands and burning his properties. Lindsay was excommunicated for his troubles and it was felt that this was incompatible with his role as Chief Justiciary. The monks of Arbroath Abbey selected Alexander Ogilvy of Inverquharity as his replacement and the insult led to a pitched battle in the town, leaving 500 dead, including Lindsay and Ogilvy.

In 1320 the Scottish Parliament met at Arbroath Abbey and addressed to the Pope the Declaration of Arbroath, drafted by the Abbot of the time, Bernard. This document detailed the services which their “Lord and Sovereign” Robert the Bruce had rendered to Scotland, and affirmed in eloquent terms the independence of the Scots nation.

However the town is best known for the Arbroath smokie, a form of smoked Haddock, and apparently the method was discovered by accident! The story goes that a barrel of salted haddock was destroyed in a shop fire, but when the locals tried the contents, the result was rather tasty!

A native of Arbroath doesn’t tend to be called an Arbroathian, rather a Red Lichtie, after the distinctive flame that burned in the local lighthouse, due to the oil used as fuel.

The local football team has woven itself into the historical tapestry too. They’re famous for the biggest ever win, 36-0, in senior football, a feat achieved in 1885 in a Scottish Cup fixture against Aberdeen based Bon Accord. The story is even more remarkable when you consider than Bon Accord were in fact a cricket team, called Orion, and were invited into the competition by mistake, the cup committee had meant to ask Orion FC, also based in Aberdeen!

In an even stranger coincidence on the same day, Dundee Harp were also playing in the Scottish Cup against Aberdeen Rovers, but the score finished a mere 35–0. The referee noted 37 goals, but Harp’s secretary suggested a miscount must have occurred as he had recorded only 35. The match official, acknowledging it was difficult for him to keep accurate details during such a deluge of goals, accepted the lower tally and wired the official score of 35–0 to SFA headquarters!

Gayfield Park has the claim to fame as being the closest league ground to the sea, just a promenade separating the “Pop” side terrace from the sea wall. The sea has been known to splash up and over the wall, soaking the unsuspecting patrons behind!

With the wind whistling off the North Sea, the main stand with its low roof appears to hunker down, to avoid being blown away. Elsewhere the terrace forms an amphitheatre, with much-needed cover on all sides. It’s a wonderful example of a traditional lower-league football ground. It actually appears to shelter the “Pleasureland” Amusement arcade next door!

The club made their visitors welcome, particularly Peter, who was presented with a free programme, and both he and I enjoyed buying the club badge in the club shop. The club proof-read the design so were rather perturbed when the badges arrived with the word “Lichties” spelled “Lichteis!” The view was taken that they made for a good talking point so on sale they went!

The game was a local derby, Forfar is in Angus too, but without the bitterness of the derby against Montrose. A good attendance saw Arbroath look far too strong for the Loons, with player-manager Paul Sheerin bossing matters both on, and off the pitch. Sheerin is the man that scored a goal for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, that spawned the headline “Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious!”

Lee Sibanda opened the scoring, converting Graham Bayne’s clever headed knockdown, and it was soon Bayne’s turn, as he prodded home at close range. Steven Doris set up Bayne for the third, the forward firing home from the six-yard box. Forfar were given a lifeline when Colin Hamilton brought down Willie Robertson in the box and Iain Campbell depatched the penalty expertly. It was a short-lived hope as Robertson received a straight red card for a dreadful challenge on Hamilton and the full-back’s departure saw the end of the game as a spectacle, and there was little more than thank this friendly club for their hospitality, and make our way north for an overnight stay in Aberdeen.






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